What is a банты (pronounced bun-tey) you ask? Well, let me first show you a funny clip with a line that the Frost Family has always used. You can fast forward to 1 minute in if you want. This is from one of my childhood favorites, Milo and Otis.
The line that I am referring to is, "You call that a tail!?! This is a tail!! ha ha ha :)"
So, what does this have to do with a банты? Nothing really, except that I keep picturing little girls in Ukraine saying, "You call that a банты? THIS is a банты!!" Without further ado, I give you the банты.
Okay, so really, a банты is a bow. But it's not just any bow in Ukraine. A банты is always pristine white, GINORMOUS, and there are so many variations of the банты here in Ukraine it really is mind-boggling to see all the different styles. Girls wear банты's on special occasions...like the first day of school, aka First Bell Ceremony. All of the pictures from this post are from the First Bell Ceremony at Rob's (another K-grad PCV) school. I asked a girl at the ceremony what age they stop wearing bows for big celebrations...and I kind of forgot what she said :/ I will find out again though. It is typically for the younger girls...however, when it is a girl's last year of school (11th form), at some schools here in Ukraine the 11th form girls will dress up like the little girls in 1st form (you'll see in pictures below) and will even wear банты's in their hair. New tradition to take back to America? Without a doubt, yes. Enjoy the pictures :)
SO
MANY
TYPES!!!!
This is the little girl who carried around the icon while the priest blessed all of the kids at the ceremony...and by blessed, I mean doused with water. I'm working on a video of the ceremony that will give you a real perspective of what I mean!
I feel like the little girl on the left is pouting because her hair is too tight up in the bows.
The vests that all of the kids are wearing are part of this school's school uniform.
This was an older girl (probably 7th grade)...but she was still sporting the small ones!
Even the little kids not school age wore them. They were EVERYWHERE that day. The stands at the bazaar that sell these bows must make a killing right before school starts!
That's my post for today :) I've been horrible about blogging lately but I have literally been out of town for over half of the last month. SO...look for more updates soon!!
BTW, I somehow got signed up for an Amazon.com deal of the day where they let me know about one book a day (for my Kindle) that is on sale. For 9/11, the book that was on sale that day was Thunder Dog, and I instantly downloaded it. It tells the story of a man and his seeing-eye dog who worked on the 73rd (or 78th? I forget...) floor of the World Trade Center Tower 1. They descended the 1,463 stairs and made it out alive. It's an easy and interesting read--where the author switches back and forth between stories of how he was raised and how those early events in his life helped him descend the 1,463 stairs. Pretty amazing story. Going to post and then read it some more...night night :)
Tina ALWAYS cracks up at the part in Milo & Otis where Otis says "Here comes the dog! Strong and brave!" and then trips or falls in the hole or whatever. :)
We recently got cable again and I keep coming across "Animals Say the Wildest Things", is that where you saw this video because it reminds me of that show - which until now I always thought was absolutely ridiculous. I'm going to give it a chance :D
Love your story about the bows. That's pretty incredible. They are a bit beyond the imagination, however a girl I grew up with had what looked exactly like these in every imaginable color. Some even had pretty beads inside. She wore one every single day, not just on special occasions!
2 comments:
Tina ALWAYS cracks up at the part in Milo & Otis where Otis says "Here comes the dog! Strong and brave!" and then trips or falls in the hole or whatever. :)
We recently got cable again and I keep coming across "Animals Say the Wildest Things", is that where you saw this video because it reminds me of that show - which until now I always thought was absolutely ridiculous. I'm going to give it a chance :D
Love your story about the bows. That's pretty incredible. They are a bit beyond the imagination, however a girl I grew up with had what looked exactly like these in every imaginable color. Some even had pretty beads inside. She wore one every single day, not just on special occasions!
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